Exploring the Caribbean’s everchanging relationship with the Sea

Join this island-centered event on Friday 31 May organised by researchers of the Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development, the Human Geography and Planning department, with support of the KITLV & Utrecht University’s Sustainable Oceans Community. The Island and Ocean Imaginaries Workshop targets a broad audience and is open to students, researchers, and everyone interested in islands and the Caribbean.

Caribbean island communities have always been intimately connected to the sea, this relationship has historically been turbulent and climate change brings with it new threats. The Island and Oceans Imaginaries workshop will adopt a climate justice lens to creatively explore sustainable ocean issues in the Caribbean and the increasingly discussed topic of climate reparations. The event's aim is to foster a better understanding of islands, islanders, their relationship to the ocean, and the unique challenges they face in the wake of a changing climate and imagine new ways of relating to the sea.

The event begins with a teach-in given by Fiona Compton of Know your Caribbean, that centers around the question “What can we learn about the ways Caribbean communities adapt and bring in culturally vibrant ways of knowing and being with the ocean?” Afterwards, the panel will further open-up this question in relation to climate reparations, and climate justice, drawing from the panelists diverse expertise at the intersection of science and artistic practice. Finally, participants will have the opportunity to co-process the event learnings through a creative zine-making workshop hosted by 6islandszine. The event will close with Caribbean food and drinks.

About the organizers:

Cara Flores, PhD Candidate, Urban Futures Future
Danick Trouwloon, PhD Candidate, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Environmental Governance
Janneke den Dekker-Arlain, PhD Candidate, Human Geography and Planning

With Support from
Daniella Britt, KITLV, Communication Coordinator Islanders at the Helm

This workshop is supported by grants from the Members’ Association KITLV and Utrecht University’s Sustainable Oceans Community.